All Because a Girl Fell Out of the Sky
by Keliantria
Summary: A mysterious girl falls out of the sky and into the world of Maximum Ride, possibly changing the flock's lives forever.
1. A Falling Girl?

**Okay, this is my first fanfiction, so it's not that great. Actually, I would really appreciate it if you don't read this at all, unless you really, really need to know about what I am trying to prevent you from reading. Yeah. Also, this story is kinda part of my other story- it's like the middle of it, so it could sound weird and stuff. (I only put this on here as like a test, to see how works...) And.. what else. Oh yeah. I haven't actually read the fifth book (MAX: A Maximum Ride Novel) yet, so I have no idea what happens in that book. (No spoilers, please!) And I have a disclaimer I have to get out of the way too.**

**Disclaimer: Maximum Ride (unfortunately) does not belong to me.**

**And a claimer: My OC (the girl falling out of the sky) belongs to me. Please don't copy my character. (Not that you would, since she is not a particularly interesting character, but still.)**

**Yep, that's about it. So if you are still reading this, enjoy!**

**Chapter one: A falling girl?  
**  
Fang's POV:

Since Max had randomly decided (I'm guessing because of the voice in her head?) that we should continue with her mission to save the world instead of sitting at the fancy school, we had started flying towards… Ohio.

Now, why we were going from Virginia to Ohio was completely beyond me, but you won't hear me complaining. Anything's better than going to a school again, and Max's Voice had only gone wrong and almost killed all of us a couple of times… right? So now, since we were famous and all that, we got to stay at this hotel instead of a cave. Like, a real hotel. With separate rooms and a bathroom and Iggy's dream- a real kitchen.

Right now, Max was taking another shower (I think she really enjoyed those), Iggy was making us lunch, Gazzy was trying to create a compact bomb that would make an explosion big enough to destroy fifty fly-boys (we didn't think those would come back, but better safe than sorry, right?) Nudge was driving poor Iggy crazy with her non-stop chattering about something incomprehensible (she was talking way too fast), and Angel was playing with Celeste. Oh, and Total was having a nice chat with Akila. But here I was, just reading my blog when suddenly, we heard (with our raptor hearing) a girl screaming above us.

Wait. Above us? I jumped off the balcony of our suite, and flew up towards the roof.

Iggy, Gazzy, and Nudge followed me as Angel stayed behind to tell Max. And there, falling from the sky was a girl. The girl was desperately trying to stay aloft, kicking and flapping her arms. As if that would help.  
She had shoulder-length dark brown hair framed against a small and dainty sun-tanned face, and was wearing a t-shirt advertising something called… Aeropostale? Guess it was a brand of clothing then. She also had jean capris on, white running shoes, and a brown duffel bag that had a smiling pink pig on it. (The pig was quite cute actually, if you liked that sort of thing. It had these huge eyes, and that little chibi-ish smile. You know…) Erm.. not that I notice those kind of things.

Well anyways, the girl was falling quicker now- gaining momentum, and everyone was thinking the same question: should we catch her?  
Even Max, who had apparently sprinted out of the bathroom, in the middle of her shower. We could tell by the shampoo that was still in her hair, and how she was wearing a bathrobe.

"Max," I said. "I know, I know." My oh-so-confident leader snapped. Her eyes were squinted, trying to figure out how the heck a girl about the same age as us had started falling out of the sky. And if the girl was a new type of eraser or just another girl falling out of a plane. Apparently, Max had made up her mind by the time that we could begin to see the girl's facial features. She looked really panicked, and as she saw us screamed "Help!"

Max nodded to me and started to fly up to the girl. I followed Max and together, we caught the girl. After setting her on the ground, she looked up at us, her hazel eyes catching my own dark ones. For some reason, I believed that she meant us no harm. Still, she had some explaining to do. We stared at her until she took a deep breath and said, "I am not from your world."


	2. An Unbelievable Story

**Okay, I wasn't actually planning on putting up this second chapter, but I actually got four positive reviews (Thanks, Here we go again5, she wants to move, Kelsey Goode, and Dreaming 11. You guys rock. ^.^) So I figured, I guess I'll continue with the story. But the thing is, this story was really hard to type up because I kept on getting interrupted by my friends and family, having to eat, etc. Also, this chapter is a lot more confusing that the first one. It could be because Fang has a simpler view of things than Max, or maybe just because of what I had to explain in this chapter.  
**

**The disclaimer again: I still don't own Maximum Ride**

**My claimer: I own the OC**

**Well, that's basically it so enjoy chapter two! :)  
**

**Chapter two: An Unbelievable Story**

Max's POV:

The whole flock stared at the girl incredulously, even Iggy who obviously couldn't get anything out of it. Gazzy spoke first. "So you're like an _alien_?"  
We continued to stare at that strange girl. But we had a great excuse for it. I mean, she fell out of the sky for crying out loud and then she tells us that she's "not from our world". Wouldn't you stare too?  
Well anyways, the girl widened her eyes at us. "No, no. That's not what I meant," she assured us. Actually, we shouldn't be ones to talk. I mean, we're mutant-bird-kids, after all. It's not like we're so normal.

While I was thinking all this through, Fang had apparently continued to stare at the girl (who I thought was kinda scared by him already), Iggy was muttering something about "not being able to stare", Gazzy kept on asking the poor girl (who had gone into shock by now) about "which galaxy she had come from", Nudge freaked out about the "totally cute bag" and kept on demanding to know where she had gotten it (Gazzy informed Nudge that she had probably gotten it in another dimension or something), and Angel tried to read the girl's mind, but was frustrated when she found that she could not.

"Max? Hello? Earth to Max?" I snapped out of my thoughts as Fang walked over to me. "So?" he asked, obviously wanting to know what the heck we should do with the girl. I mean, anyone could tell from her eyes (pretty, hazel eyes that I was sick of having Fang stare into as if he was hypnotized) that she was not sent here to destroy us. Or hurt us. Or even help us. She was just a confused girl surrounded by mutant-bird-kid freaks.

So I, the responsible leader walked over to the girl. Her eyes locked on mine, like she was trying to say "Let me explain". Well, either that or "Save me from this crazy bird-kid who thinks I'm an alien". Either one worked.

I'm going to skip the details, but basically the girl's name is Lilly. Her real name is Lilliena, but most people call her Lilly. (That's Lilly with two "L's", people.)  
Anyways, so she was reading our book/ life story and one of her friends made this neat little portal so that she could go into the books. But the portal her friend made her was defective, because it had suddenly sucked her into our world and now she can't get out.  
And… at the last minute, before the portal imploded on itself, Lilly's friend had thrown in another invention- this duffel bag which was kind of like another portal. Her friend would carry the matching duffel bag with her, and would throw in there whatever she felt Lilly needed. (I guess Lilly falling into the book changed the story of us, and Lilly's friend could read our book to find out exactly what we were doing. So much for privacy, huh?)  
Unfortunately, the duffel bag was way too small for Lilly to fit into it. And it was very likely that it was impossible to send things back. So Lilly was stuck here with us. Wonderful. I mean, just what we needed, right? A girl who couldn't fly. Yep. So, back to the present.

The whole flock sat down on the rooftop, thinking this over for a couple of minutes. Well, Fang and I thought it over while the other flock members stared at us, waiting for a solution. And Lilly just stared off into the distance.

We decided that we were going to have to keep her with us. Because I'll bet that no other people would believe Lilly's story and they would put her in the funny-house and lock her up. But we believed her. Not because of her eyes that just melted your suspicions, not because of how convincing her story was. (Which it really wasn't that convincing, if you know what I mean.) But because no one else would.  
I know this sounds crazy but no one else would believe her, and even if her story isn't true, I didn't want anything to happen to her just because her friend may be horrible at creating portals.

So Lilly told us about herself.

"Well, I don't think my friend can send in wings for me, so how am I supposed to get around while you guys fly?" she asked us.

Uh oh. I hadn't thought about that part. "Well, maybe Fang could carry you," I said, hating how she got to be carried by _Fang_. But she was probably too heavy for anyone else. I mean, even though she was pretty thin, she still had to weigh more than us, right?

Fang did not like my idea. "Max, she's probably as heavy as I am. How in the world am I supposed to do that?" Of course, Fang didn't say anything about how he didn't want to. Boys.

"Well actually, I'm only eighty pounds you know," Lilly informed us. "I'm really light."

Okay then. I guess Fang and Iggy could take turns carrying her (Even though Lilly was only as heavy as Akila, it still had to be harder carrying a thirteen-year-old girl than a Malamute, right?)

Which left me with the Malamute. Oh joy.


	3. Poor Max

**Okay, so here's the third chapter. This took me a while to write, because it's so hard for me to write in Max's perspective. I think I'll do the next chapter in Fang's POV. He's so much more fun to do. ;) **

**Disclaimer: Maximum Ride still does not belong to me.**

**Claimer: Lilly belongs to me. **

**And thanks to those of you who are actually still reading this story. You guys are awesome! :D  
**

Chapter three: Poor Max...

Max's POV

So after we had sorted all that stuff out, Nudge excitedly grabbed Lilly's hand and went to show her the room she would be sleeping in. I followed them, just curious because we had only gotten four bedrooms- One for me, one for Fang, one for Iggy and Gazzy, and one for Angel and Nudge. I got to have my own room because I was the leader, and Fang got his own room because well, he's Fang.  
Unfortunately for me, Nudge led Lilly straight to my room and declared that we would share it. I glared at my eleven-year-old flock member. "Who said that?!" I demanded.  
"Well, unless you want to share a room with Fang…." Nudge said, with this knowing little smirk on her face that I didn't even know she was capable with.

I instantly flushed, thinking of when I had said all that stuff while I was on the Valium.  
"Fang told you?!" I couldn't believe it. I was going to _kill_ Fang. "No, Fang didn't tell," Nudge explained with her hands held up defensively.  
"Angel read Fang's mind accidentally, and started cracking up. Then I asked her what was so funny, and she wouldn't tell me but I threatened to tell Fang that she read his mind, so she told me about you and the Valium and how you went all 'I love you, Fang' and then I started laughing so hard that my stomach hurt, but Angel decided that we shouldn't tell anyone else and then she regretted telling me because apparently she doesn't think that I'm a good secret-keeper and…" Nudge took a deep breath before continuing "And.. then I felt sad but I was still laughing about what Fang was thinking which I am actually not supposed to be allowed to tell you, but the point is that only Angel and I know and now you know and Fang also knows, so no worries." Nudge smiled at me. I smacked my forehead with my hand. Great. Just what I needed.

Wait. I spun around, facing Lilly, who was staring at Nudge with her mouth open. Argh. "Did you hear all of that?" I demanded.  
Lilly nodded, still staring at Nudge. I groaned. This day just keeps on getting better and better.

_Be nice to the, girl Max,_ the Voice told me. By now I was reading to bang my head against a wall. _Go away,_ I told it. _I'm having bad enough day already. I don't need you to make it worse,_ I thought, annoyed. And of course, the Voice did not leave. _Max, you may have just met the key to saving the world,_ it told me. _What? Are you trying to tell me that this…this girl who fell out of the sky and may be crazy is going to help me? I think I have done pretty well without her, thank you very much. So just shoo and leave me alone,_ I snapped, pinching the bridge of my nose.

For once, the Voice actually left me alone. A good thing too, because just then something exploded in the kitchen. "Oops," I heard Iggy say. Yes, oops indeed. If it wasn't for my horrible headache, I would have gone over there and strangled them. Gah! As I was there thinking that my headache couldn't get any worse, Fang came in. "Max," he said. I ignored him. "Max," he said again, trying to get my attention. I really couldn't care less about what he was going to say. "MAX!" Fang yelled. "What, what?!" I screamed at him. Then I heard a mechanical whirling above us.

"Oh." I said, finally getting it. The Fly-boys had found us again. As we decided to make a run for it, (How are we supposed to fight with the extra burden of a thirteen-year-old girl who can't fly?) I unfurled my wings, ready to fly. I grabbed Akila as Iggy grabbed Total, and Fang scooped up Lilly. We figured there was no time for packing, so I gave them the signal. "U and A, guys," I told them.

As I sped towards the window, I realized something. I had closed it this morning. And I was going too fast to stop. This was not good. I shattered the window, but the shards of glass gave me scratches, and made this really loud noise. The fly-boys turned in our direction, flying straight towards us. I'm guessing there were about five hundred of them. It was a freaking army. And all five hundred of their mechanical brains only had one thing in mind: To kill us. We could never take that many, and it was too late to fly away. We were going to have to fight. _Well, crap_, I thought.  
Sometimes, I think that life hates me.


	4. The Jealousy Prone Flock Leader

**Okay, so this chapter is a bit longer than any of the other ones, because I had so much fun with it. (I love Fang's POV. Its so fun!) So, because my arms hurt from typing, I'm going to just give you the disclaimer and you can enjoy chapter four!**

**Disclaimer: James Patterson owns Maximum Ride. I am not James Patterson. **

**Claimer: Lilly belongs to me.**

**Oh, and because I needed more Fax in this story, I have some random Fax going on here. Please bear with me, because Fax is just too fun to keep realistic. :D  
**

Chapter four: The Jealousy-prone Flock Leader

Fang's POV

Well, this was going to be interesting. I mean, here we were with an eighty-pound Malamute, a talking dog, and this normal human girl who I was supposed to carry. Against an army of Fly-boys.

I look over to Max, who, for the first time since we had escaped from the school looked truly panicked. Now, this was Maximum Ride, our ever-confident leader who always assured us that there was a plan. Right now, I am guessing that she didn't have a plan.

Then, I look down at the squirming girl who I am struggling to carry bridal style. It's actually a lot harder than you may think it is, you know. I mean, have you ever carried a girl who was five foot six and almost as heavy as you are while trying to fly? Didn't think so. Not to mention the dark looks Max kept on giving me. Hey, it's not my fault she assigned me to this girl and that it was easier to carry her like that. I mean, it's not like I'm _enjoying_ it.

As we kind of just stared at the army of Fly-boys, Max noticed for the first time how much I was struggling and realized that there just was no way we'd be able to stay alive and keep the girl at the same time. Which was kind of important. "Fang, you're going to have to take her to Ohio with Iggy and Akila," she told me. WHAT? I guess I had this look on my face, so Max came over to me.

"Fang," she said softly. "We can't fight them like this. You guys will have to make a run for it while we hold them off. Promise me you'll go and not look back, no matter what." I nodded, though I had made up my mind to put the girl in a tree when I find one and go back to help Max. There was no way Fang would just run off and leave the rest of the flock fighting for their lives.

"No, Fang." Max's eyes blazed as she glared at me. "I know what you're thinking. You are NOT ALLOWED to come back here. Understand?" I did not understand. Max continued her rant, "I have a plan. And that plan will not work if you come charging back here after ditching the girl in a tree." My jaw dropped. Was I that predictable? Or did Max suddenly develop mind-reading powers like Angel?

Max must have read my face again, because she told me about how Angel had read my mind and told her. I wondered what else Angel had told her. If we survived this, I was going to have to explain to Angel very carefully how she was not allowed to tell anyone what I was thinking. From her position above me, I could hear the little mind-reader gulp. I allowed myself a little smirk.

The Fly-boys were getting close now. "Okay, guys," Max announced. "Fang, Iggy, Akila and Lilly are going to head to Ohio first while we hold the Fly-boys off long enough for them to get a head start. Then Nudge will take Angel and Total to Ohio, and Gazzy will leave after unloading all of his bombs. I am going to hold them off as long as I can, and when it becomes bad enough, I will use my warp-drive. Any questions?"

Iggy grinned. "Told ya those bombs would come in handy sometime," he said to Max. Max rolled her eyes, then remembered that Iggy couldn't see that. "I'm rolling my eyes, Iggy," she told him.

So Iggy and I sped off towards the biggest city on Ohio- Cincinnati, while carrying the world's heaviest Malamute and Lilly, who was holding on to me for dear life. Good thing Max wasn't here to give Lilly death glares. Actually, (and don't tell Max I said this) but I like making Max jealous sometimes. It can be kind of fun.

Max's POV

After I had sent Fang and Iggy off, Gazzy threw a couple of bombs and the first row of Fly-boys, the explosion reducing them to pieces. And using the explosions as a smokescreen, Nudge, Angel, and Total took off. Gazzy had somehow managed to hide three bombs in his backpack and he had about ten bombs that Iggy had left him with. We threw all of them at the Fly-boys, and I waved as Gazzy left for Ohio, following the now small figures of Nudge and Angel. It was just me and the Fly-boys.

I was guessing that there were about two dozen of the Fly-boys left, after all the bombs. And all of them were the first model too, with no guns at all. I guess Itex hadn't gotten enough time to make newer models, so they had sent out the older ones. This was going to be fun. I kicked a couple in their metal chests, and finished a few off with a roundhouse kick to the base of their spines. As more Fly-boys surrounded me, I glanced back at the retreating figure of Gazzy. Nope, I could still see him.

A the Fly-boys started droning on in their mechanical voices, _You cannot stop us. We are one of many_, you know that junk? Well I punched that one in the neck, snapping its head off and dispatching one that had come behind me with another kick. As a few of the Fly-boys had gotten me with their badly-aimed punches and I had gotten bruises, not to mention the fact that my nose was bleeding, I decided that whether I had bought the flock enough time or not, it was time to go.

I put my arms in front of me like Superman and shot forward at two hundred miles per hour. I couldn't help grinning as the familiar whooshing of air going past my ears. Flying fast had to be the best thing, ever. Well, except for maybe homemade chocolate chip cookies or hot showers. Those were nice too.

After a while, I had caught up to Gazzy. That kid was pretty fast for an eight-year-old. Gazzy was going as fast as he could, his small face scrunched up in concentration. I slowed down enough to fly beside him. When Gazzy saw me, his face lit up. "So? Did we get them? Are they all gone now?" he asked. "They're gone for now," I told him. "But we still have to be careful, since we never know when those crazy whitecoats will make more." I hated raining on his parade, but I didn't want to give them false hopes either. Being a responsible leader is so hard sometimes.

"So, Gaz, where's the rest of the flock?" I asked him. "Well," the Gasman replied. "Angel, Nudge and Total should be those shapes up ahead of us, and I have no clue where Iggy and Fang are. But I bet that Angel and Nudge can see them, so they shouldn't be far away." I smiled in relief. I guess my last-minute plan had worked out after all. "Okay, thanks Gazzy," I told the eight-year-old. "Just keep flying as fast as you can, ok? I'm going to go talk to Angel for a sec." My little Gasman nodded bravely, though I knew how much he hated being left behind. I promised him that I would tell the others to wait for him as soon as I had caught up with them.

I had decided not go use warp drive in case I missed them, so I flew to where Nudge and Angel were, beating my wings faster and faster. When I had caught up to them, and after Angel had expressed her joy at my being alive and in one piece, I told them to stop and wait for Gazzy. "We're safe for now," was all I told the girls as I squinted to find Fang. My eyes narrowed as Lilly had her arms wrapped around Fang's neck, and her head was on his shoulder. Ugh. I had forgotten about _her_.

Fang's POV

So here I as, with this thirteen-year-old girl wrapped around me, clinging on to me as if I would drop her. Which, in theory I could, but definitely not with her arms glued to my neck like this. Still, I was getting pretty tired, and I couldn't trade with Iggy. (I had almost offered to trade, and then I remembered that Lilly would feel insulted if I had wanted to carry a dog instead of her. Besides, I guess she wasn't _that bad._ I mean, she was lighter than Max, who I had carried with no problem. Plus, I'd like to think that I had gotten stronger since then...)

Speaking of Max, I wondered if she was okay. _Max._ Smiling, I remembered that time when she was on Valium and she had told me that she loved me. She may not have known it then, but that could have been my favorite moment in my life. Well, maybe besides when we escaped from the school with Jeb. I looked down again at Lilly. I hoped that Max wouldn't think that I _liked_ Lilly. I mean, she was a nice girl, but I didn't like her _that_ way. Apparently, while I had been all happy in my memories of Max (and Lilly had just stared off into the distance, smiling. I think she was caught up in happy memories of something- or someone too.) our jealousy-prone flock leader had snuck up on me.

Uh oh. Max's hands were on her hips as she zoomed in front of me with one flap of her beautiful wings. Lilly must have felt it, because she snapped back to reality, took her head off my shoulder, and looked at me apologetically. (I'm pretty sure she forgot that it had been _my_ shoulder.) Unfortunately for both of us, Max just narrowed her eyes at Lilly. "Fang, give Lilly to Iggy. Iggy, trade burdens with Fang," she snapped, like Lilly was an _object._ Lilly looked kind of hurt, and kind of scared. I wasn't sure if it was because she wasn't sure if Iggy could hold on to her, or if she didn't want to face Max's wrath. If I was a little more vain, I could have thought that she didn't want _me_ to face Max's wrath. But I'm not vain.

So Iggy came over, and we switched "burdens" mid-air. Iggy was grinning happily, with Lilly wrapped around him now and with me carrying the object of Total's affection. God, Iggy was such a "Sexist pig", as Max would call it. Well, back to my problem now. Max's eyes stared into mine, searching my soul. Don't tell her, but when she did that, I just completely melted. "Fang..." she started to say, then was cut off as she jumped on top of me, her lips finding mine. My brain just went into shock, and my body wouldn't listen to me anymore. I was subconsciously aware of my wings pulling her closer, not caring that we were dropping faster than a rock.

While we were still a good twenty feet above the ground, Max broke away from me and we both spread out our wings to fly back to the others. When we got there, Nudge, Gazzy, Angel and even Total had their mouths open and were staring at us. "Uh.. guys? What just happened?" Iggy called out. "Why did we stop?" "No! Nudge!" Max screamed but to no avail. Nudge had already started talking. "Iggy! Did you see that? No wait, you can't see. But Max and Fang were _kissing_," our little chatterbox said happily. I groaned. Iggy's mouth dropped open as he almost dropped Lilly. Well, he would have if she hadn't clung on to him tighter than Saran wrap.

Iggy's POV

Fang was so freaking _lucky_. I mean, he gets a girl, _and_ he can see. But on the bright side, at least he doesn't have a thirteen-year-old wrapped around him any more. Why? 'Cause she had her arms around _my_ neck right now. If Max hadn't been so busy yelling at Nudge and blushing from making out with Fang in front of us, she would have gone into a huge rant about how "sexist pig" I was. But I didn't care. Because I had something to tease her about, _and_ I had traded this heavy dog for a thirteen-year-old girl. Life just doesn't get better than that for me.


	5. Max Gets Carried Away

**Ugh, you have no idea how long it took me to write this. And I know it's pretty unrealistic, but I didn't mean for it to be realistic. Anyways, this chapter is pretty short and not as great as I wish it could be. Oh well. Enjoy it anyways, and I would appreciate it if you would review! And um... now a shout-out to my long-time supporter, Dreaming 11! Thanks so much for writing more than half of my reviews! You are amazing. :) **

**Disclaimer: I still don't own Maximum Ride**

**Claimer: I own Lilly**

**Enjoy chapter five!  
**

Chapter five: Max gets carried away...

Max's POV

Wow. I can't believe I just kissed Fang in front of the _whole flock_. Well, the whole flock and that annoying girl Lilly. I don't even know why I had done that. I guess I get jealous more easily than I thought...

Anyways, Fang was staring at me in wonder now and Iggy was grinning like an idiot. I made a note to myself to yell at him later, but first I turned to Fang.

"What is wrong with you, Fang?" I demanded. "Lately, you have been falling over girls like... like...." I was going to come up with a clever idiom right there, but the intensity of Fang's stare made my brain stop working for a while. What did he want with me? I mean, first he kisses me a couple of times, then goes off to make cow eyes at a scientist _seven years older than him_. It's kind of confusing sometimes, you know. And if that wasn't enough, now he is staring at this girl who freaking fell out of the sky. Not good for my self-esteem.

I continued my rant. "She doesn't even have red hair!" I screamed at him, ignoring Lilly's hurt look. "Max," Fang said gently, his familiar voice calming me down a little bit. Still, I couldn't afford to not yell at him. He should be familiar with the consequences of making me confused by now, anyways. "Max, I am not falling over Lilly."

Wait. What was that I just heard? Probably my mind playing tricks on me. Or the Voice. But to be safe I said "What?" very quietly. Fang repeated his previous statement for me, emphasizing the word "not". I didn't believe him. It was just too good to be true.

"Max, I'm really sorry you feel that way about me," said Lilly. "I wasn't trying to take Fang away from you or anything, he was just carrying me." This made me really mad. "Oh yeah? What about when you put your arms around Fang's neck and your head on his shoulder?" I retorted.

Lilly looked down at the ground, tears in her eyes. "I guess... I just forgot who he was. And I was so scared of falling, I just..." She bit her lower lip and looked up at me. Great. Now I felt horrible for yelling at those two. But Iggy... he was definitely guilty. This could be fun. Grinning, I flew over to him.

Iggy's POV

This was awesome. A girl crying on my shoulder. Oh no. Max was coming over. I could feel it. I braced myself as Max started. "Iggy! How sexist-pig of you!" she screamed at me. The whole flock even Lilly groaned as Max launched into another rant. Max made sure I understood how bad it is that I am enjoying carrying Lilly so much in the next few minutes as we flew slowly towards our destination.

Lilly sighed as Max stopped. (I believe she had stopped feeling bad by now, the girl was pretty strong.) "You know what, Max?" she asked. Max turned and stared at her (I could feel it, ok?), as Lilly continued. "Maybe I should just leave you guys," Lilly said carefully. My mouth dropped open. I think I made this "Whaaa??" sound before she continued.

"I'm just really tired of all this, okay? I mean, ever since I got here you have been shooting me death glares because Fang was carrying me- exactly what you told him to do..." she was interrupted by Fang. "Finally, someone who notices," he muttered under his breath. I heard a pause, very likely Lilly glaring at Fang. "Well Max, I just want you to know that really not trying to steal your Fang, okay? He's all yours." she finished.

I'll bet Max's eyes widened at that, so she shoved Lilly. Normally, that would have been okay, but we were flying, and Lilly was being carried by me, the blind guy. Not Fang, Mr. Unmovable rock. So as I lost my balance (yes, that is possible while you're flying) and let go of Lilly for a few seconds. Unfortunately, Lilly had let go too, so the flock (besides me) kind of just watched for a few seconds as she plummeted to the ground. Surprisingly, no one had moved to save her yet. I was really confused at first, then remembered that Max was probably glaring at them, daring them to go save her before she was half scared to death. But not me.

I tucked my wings in a dove down, following the sound of Lilly's voice. (yes, she was indeed screaming) But when I had gotten to when I should have caught up with her, her voice vanished. I turned around, hearing Fang fly next to me, obviously here against Max's wishes. "It's like she disappeared," Fang mused.

Suddenly, I saw a bright flash flash of light. (Yes, I could see it. It was white.) What could it be?


	6. Star

**Okay, so this chapter is probably the shortest chapter I will ever write for this story. Sorry about that, but I really have to write the next chapter now. If you get confused, you can just PM me, and I can explain it to you. :) Again, this story is meant to be unrealistic, so sorry if you have a problem with how I write the perspectives of the characters. **

**Disclaimer: I still don't own Maximum Ride**

**Claimer: I own both Lilly and Star.  
**

Chapter Six: Star

Fang's POV

As the bright flash faded, I could see this girl- a girl who looked similar to Lilly, only she had silver hair and mysterious gray eyes. She was wearing this blouse (all white, except for _Star_ and a little star in the corner, written in blue.) and a white skirt that went just past her knees. She had a pair of white boots on her feet, and silver bangles with an inscription of a star on her wrists. (Why do I even notice this stuff?) But the most stunning things was her wings. They were white like Angel's, but they sparkled in the sunlight, like mine turned dark purple in the sunlight (much to my great embarrassment). Holy (insert swear word of your choice here). How did she get _wings_? Iggy's mouth dropped open as he stared at her.

Wait. Staring at her? Oh right. She's all white. Duh. Iggy could _see_ her now. I bet it was all he could do not to drool. I mean, this was the first girl he'd seen since... I don't even know how long. And she wasn't that bad looking either. I glanced up to see Max fuming, Total fainting, Gazzy grinning widely, and Angel being upset that the girl had copied her wing-style. I guess it was like copying a hairstyle? I don't know. I'm not a girl.

Where was Nudge, you ask? Why, she had already zoomed over to the all-white Lilly and started marveling at her "cute" purse (Oh, did I forget to mention her silver purse with a star zipper? My bad.) and her um.. "in-style" boots. Or something like that.

I'll skip the little introduction for you again, but apparently the girl's name was "Star". She was Lilly in "our world", so she got wings. I don't know about you, but I was thinking that Star/ Lilly needed some serious therapy at this point, but "Star" did have wings and a whole new wardrobe in like, ten seconds. So I guess we had no choice but to believe her. (Maybe the portal did something so that she became the "Lilly from our world"? I have no idea.)

Iggy did look a little crestfallen that he would not get to carry her, but besides that it was back to normal. Max and Star made up (They're like best friends now. Don't ask me- I have no idea. Girls are just weird like that.) and now we're flying towards Cincinnati again. Just another day in the life of a mutant bird-kid.


	7. The Millennium Hotel

**Okay, so here's chapter seven. I try to explain things better in this chapter, so here are your questions answered!**

**Disclaimer: Maximum Ride does not belong to me.**

**Claimer: Lilly/Star belongs to me.  
**

Chapter Seven: The Millennium Hotel

Iggy's POV

Whoa. As the bright flash of light had faded, I had realized that I could see the girl. _Whoa._ She had been the first girl I had seen since... forever. So I guess I was somewhat entitled to stare at her the way I did. Even Max agreed later on that I was exempt from the normal lecture this one time. Well anyways, now we were flying towards Cincinnati. (Yes, I guess I was a little disappointed that I would not get to carry her, but it's better for the flock that we don't have to carry her around. So I'm okay.)

Max's POV

As we got close to the city, we could see the sunset over the skyline, outlining the shape of the city. It was actually a pretty nice city, not as polluted as New York and not as barren as some of the places we've settled down in before. I lead the way to a hotel called The Millennium Hotel Cincinnati, as the flock followed, Star with her eyes wide and looking around her, taking in the sights. "I take it you've never been in a big city before?" I asked her. "Yeah... I grew up in North Carolina," she told me. "In this small town far away from the cities."

I laughed softly. "Well, if you were like us, then you couldn't help going to cities like this. Besides, most of the time we don't care about the sights. Just staying alive, you know?" She nodded sympathetically. (By the way, I hate that word. Sympathetically. First off, no one actually has sympathy for us most of the time, much less empathy. But sympathetically just sounds like pathetically to me. I don't need sympathy. All I need is people not trying to kill me, thank you very much.) Well anyways, since Star obviously didn't know that, I smiled at her.

When we reached the hotel entrance, we were going to smuggle Total and Akila in, but Star pointed to a sign. It read "Pet-friendly hotel." Well, that was convenient. So I led my group of bird-kids into the hotel, our soot-streaked and tired faces a stark contrast to those of the people in the hotel. Oh well. That's what the showers are supposed to be for, right? At the front desk, I opened my mouth to tell the lady that we were the bird kids when Star elbowed me in the rib gently.

I glared at her, daring for her to tell me what do. She didn't. Instead, she approached the lady and handed her a five-hundred dollar bill. That basically took care of it. We were given a luxury 6-room suite with room service, four bathrooms, a kitchen, all that stuff. And the people didn't even question the silver hair or the dog with wings. What does that tell you? Either these people were half-blind, or they just liked money. I'm betting on the latter.

So as we were "escorted" to our private suite by these fancy-schmancy guys who had offered to take our dogs (they backed away when Total growled at them) and showed us how to use the stuff in the room. Including a giant pantry stocked with delicious things like cookies, chips, ingredients for making various foods, and a refrigerator. Yeah, you heard me right. There was a refrigerator in the pantry, with ice-cold cokes and ice cream in it. Aah, this was the life.

So after we were all settled down and watching our fifty-inch high definition plasma screen, sitting on our own comfy little La-Z-boy sofas. (Yes, we did each get a sofa all to ourselves.) I turned to Star. "Where did you even get that money?" I asked her.

Star shrugged. "I don't really know. It was just in my wallet." Reaching into her little purse, she pulled out a cute little matching wallet, stuffed with cash. I gaped at it. "So tell me again what happened with you and that huge flash of light?" I asked. Star sighed. This would be the third time she told the story. "Okay," she said tiredly.

"So first, I was falling and I saw Fang and Iggy coming after me. Then, all of a sudden I'm not falling anymore and I get this new purse and these clothes. I also get this book, I guess the one that we're in right now and I read about what happened to me. It said something like _"Now you are part of this story. Enjoy your new abilities and your new friends." _I don't know. So after that, I come back here and all of a sudden I have these wings," she flapped her sparkly-white wings and continued. "And then Iggy starts staring at me, and you come flying over to ask me what had happened," she finished.

Oh yeah. Did you not know? Star's supposed to have this special ability now, like how Angel and read minds and I can go super-fast. The only problem is, she doesn't know what it is yet. Maybe it's that Angel can't read her mind? Or that she can predict the future? Or she has never-ending cash? We have no clue. I guess we'll just have to wait and see.

So as I settle down again, drinking Coke in this fancy suite I wonder about Star. Is she really supposed to help me save the world, like the voice told me? Or is she just another "test" from Jeb? Only time will tell.

**Author's Note: Yeah. So thanks for reading this. It took me forever to get Cincinnati right, since I've never actually been there. I had to Google "Cincinnati hotels" and go from there. The Millennium Hotel is indeed a real hotel in downtown Cincinnati. And yes, it is pet-friendly. I'm not sure about the other stuff, though. So if you live in Cincinnati, I am sorry about that. Also, if you still don't get the Star/Lilly thing, I'll explain it here. So her friend built this portal that allowed people to go into books. But she accidentally got sucked in, and the only way out is building another portal to get sucked into her own story/ her world. But the flock doesn't know that yet. Got it? I know it's kind of confusing, but it was hard to explain. And if you have any other questions, just tell me, okay? I don't bite. I promise.**


	8. Room Service

**Okay. So, I already had this chapter finished about a week ago, but my stupid laptop crashed and I was forced to retype this and the next chapter. I was actually so frustrated that I skipped part of it, and changed other bits. Which is why it might sound kind of weird. Also, be prepared for an OOC Iggy and pointless fluff between Star and Iggy. I was bored, okay? And please, please review! I don't care if you hated this chapter or even if you want to send an anonymous review. I just want more feedback. :) Thanks!**

**Disclaimer: I still don't own Maximum Ride. **

**Claimer: I own Lilly/Star and this story.**

**Enjoy chapter eight!  
**

Chapter Eight: Room Service

Max's POV

So after a few hours of just relaxing and stuff, I decided that we should probably get some sleep. I turned off the TV (much to the displeasure of Gazzy and Nudge) and went to check out our rooms. (Yeah, that's right. I hadn't allowed anyone to go see their rooms yet so that I could enjoy the peaceful atmosphere of bird-kids not fighting over which room they got.) But when I told this to Star, she just winked and said, "That won't be necessary." Ooh, so mysterious. (I was being sarcastic right there, if you couldn't tell.)

As I opened the door to my room, I gasped. I guess while we had been relaxing, Star had gotten the room service people to re-do our rooms. Basically, they were... amazing. I'll describe them to you quickly. How about a list? Okay.

My room: Sky-blue walls, soft carpet, queen-sized bed, huge shower, hot tub, cabinet stocked with all the medicine and other stuff I'll ever need _in my life_, wide window leading to the balcony, etc. You know, stuff like that? I also had a backpack stocked with stuff we could need like a first-aid kit, water bottles, a change of clothes, etc. Apparently, everyone had gotten one, but they were all different colors. Mine was red.

Fang's room: Black. That's all I need to say. His door was black, his walls were black, his carpet was black, his bed was.. you guessed it, black. Also, his room had a super-fast Internet connection and a window large enough for him to fit through. I don't know what was in the bathroom or in the boxes, but let's just say that Fang was pretty happy. His backpack was black. Duh.

Iggy's room: Now, this was the opposite of Fang's room. It was all white. Like, everything was white. Star didn't really know what else Iggy wanted in there, so she just left it like that. But Iggy was pretty content.

Nudge's room: Wow, how do I begin to describe this one? Nudge's room was all pink, with a huge closet overflowing with "fashionable" clothes and shoes. She also had a wide-screen TV that played "chick flicks" all the time, and a stereo system. Luckily for us, the room had been equipped with soundproof padding. So we just heard little whispers of loud music coming from her room.

Gazzy's room: Well, it was fireproof, had lots of ventilation, and a giant bomb-building kit on the bed. Have fun, Gaz.

Angel's room: Angel's room was this typical little girl's room. With the huge stuffed animals everywhere and pale pink walls. She even had one of those "princess beds". (I think Star called them "canopy" beds?) But Angel asked if she could have a little cot for Total and Akila, so then the stuffed animals were shoved into a corner and replaced with a bed for two dogs.

Oh, I almost forgot Star's room. Oops. I bet you're wondering, "Huh? I thought Star only got six rooms?" Well, you are correct. Our little millionaire friend got her own suite. I have no idea what it looks like. Go ask her if you're that curious. So she was going to hang out with me at my room in the daytime, but go to her suite at night. Get it?

So then, we stacked all of our fists on top of each other and said goodnight. I went into my room, brushed my teeth, and took three showers before turning out the lights. I really hoped that everyone had gone into their respective rooms and gone to sleep, like I did. Because if I got woken up by any loud noises, I was going to kill those bird-kids. I'm a really light sleeper, and it takes forever for me to fall asleep. But I really needed the rest. As I had been brushing my teeth, I had noticed that I had bags under my eyes. Dark ones. Being the leader isn't what it's always cracked up to be...

Iggy's POV

After we stacked our fists on top of each other, I heard Max almost sprint into her room. She must really love those showers, huh? I figured I should do the same when I heard Gazzy's footsteps, accompanied by lighter ones approach me. It was Gazzy dragging Star over to me. "That's not fair," Gazzy said. "Why doesn't Iggy need fireproof walls too? He likes to blow stuff up even more than I do sometimes." I glanced up to see Star's reaction. Man, I never get tired of watching her face change expressions. You probably wouldn't understand, but if you had been blind then you would appreciate seeing facial expressions too.

Anyways, Star's expression was amused. "Iggy's a big boy now, Gazzy," she told him. "He doesn't accidentally set things on fire anymore. Right Iggy?" And then she winked at me. I was kinda stunned, but I nodded. Gazzy left, pouting and muttering to himself. Star smiled at me, and kind of glided into my room. She sat down on the bed, and I followed her.

"So Iggy, are you enjoying your vision?" she asked me. I was going to say _Yes, I love it_, but instead the words "It's beautiful" slipped out. And I was staring right at Star. Crap. But she just smiled at me, and she got up to leave. _No, don't go!_ my mind screamed at her. Before she left, I needed to try something. "Um..." I started. _Real smooth, Iggy_ I thought. But Star turned around to face me. "What is it, Iggy?" she asked, slightly concerned. Have I told you how much I love being able to describe that? Being able to see is _awesome_. Anyways, I sorta mumbled out my question.

"Uh.. I was kinda wondering.. if I could feel your face or something, you know to see you with my hands?" Gosh, I felt so stupid now. What kind of idiot says stuff like that? Fortunately for me, Star wasn't paying attention to how dumb that sounded, but asked, "What do you mean?" I felt the heat rise to my face. "Well.. it's just that I haven't seen anyone in so long, and now I can actually see you.. so I just wanted to memorize your face or something. Wow, I must sound so stupid, right? But it's okay if you say no, I would totally understand... I mean... " I rambled on like that for about a minute until Star interrupted me.

"Okay, go ahead," she said, leaning in closer to me. My eyes widened as my heart started beating faster. "Y-you're serious?" I managed to croak out, stuttering a little bit. "Yeah," she told me, smiling kindly. "It's okay." My hands shaking and my face no doubt flushed (I was really suprised she hadn't noticed that yet. Or maybe she just didn't care?) I cupped my hands around her face...

Star's POV

"Uh.. I was kinda wondering.. if I could feel your face or something, you know to see you with my hands?", Iggy mumbled. I felt kind of confused. "What do you mean?" I asked. Iggy started blushing. Which confused me even more. "Well.. it's just that I haven't seen anyone in so long, and now I can actually see you.. so I just wanted to memorize your face or something. Wow, I must sound so stupid, right? But it's okay if you say no, I would totally understand... I mean... ", Iggy explained. That didn't sound so bad. Plus, I felt kinda bad for Iggy. So I agreed. "Okay, go ahead," I told him, leaning in closer. Iggy stammered out something that sounded like, "Y-you're serious?" I smiled at him. He was so funny sometimes. "Yeah, it's okay," I told him.

He cupped his hands (rough from all the bomb-building, with long fingers) around my face, feeling my cheekbones, my forehead, my nose. When he moved down to my lips, he leaned down and very gently... kissed me. On the lips. My eyes widened and my first thought was to push him away, make him stop, anything but this. But I didn't want to hurt him, and seeing as how I was the first girl he'd ever kissed, let him continue on. I sucked in a breath when he let go, letting the air fill my lungs. Well, that wasn't so bad.

Iggy's POV

Did I just do what I think I did? I was going to go bang my head on the wall when I realized that the girl was _still_ smiling at me. Uh, wow. Well actually, I could flatter myself and say that she was totally smitten with me, but I kind of doubted that. Then I remembered what I had just done. "Oh god, I am so sorry... what was I thinking? Stupid, stupid, stupid!, Argh-" my apology was cut off as Star leaned close to me, closed her eyes, and kissed me back. When she finished, my jaw dropped. I was totally speechless.

Star winked at me, with an amused smile on her face. "Bye, Iggy," she told me. I watched her leave, my eyes still wide. Only two minutes later did I just realize what had happened. I just got kissed. By a _girl_. Grinning, I collapsed onto my bed and dreamed happy dreams.

**Author's note: So, what do you think? I know it was kind of sudden, but I was tired of waiting around for Faxness. And Iggy was single. So guess what? I just stuck in that little random paragraph or so. Review? :D**


	9. Pia

**Okay. So, one of my amazing friends had helped me write this chapter. She had actually been to Cincinnati before, so it has been a great help. (Thanks so much, I really appreciate it!) Basically, I was just supposed to edit the chapter, but I went a little overboard and rewrote most of it. Oops. Anyways, this whole chapter is dedicated to one character, Pia. Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: Maximum Ride does not belong to me.**

**Claimer: All of my OCs belong to me. (That would be Star, Lilly, and Pia. Only Pia also half belongs to my aforementioned friend, too.)**

Chapter nine: Pia

Pia's POV

I crouched in the tall grass, eyes fixed on the plump little blue jay. I waited until it lowered it's head to peck at a little crumb of bread. Then, I bunched my leg muscles and leaped, feeling the satisfying pleasure of warm blood in my mouth as I clamped down on it's spine. I'll spare you the gory details but basically, I devoured the bird. Stretching, I washed myself, licking my golden-brown paw and rubbing over my broad muzzle and mane. Sighing in contentment I fell asleep, tail curled around my nose.

In the morning, I woke up only to have the sunlight searing my retina. I winced. Like, _ow_. I yawned, got up and morphed, wincing slightly at the transition from lion to human. I walked to a relatively reflective pond and checked my reflection, my golden-brown hair was a mess so I combed through it with my fingers/claws (Don't ask), then put it back into a ponytail and stuffed it through my Cincinnati Reds baseball cap, straightened my filthy t-shirt and stuffed my tail into the back of my pants. Isn't if fun to be a lion-kid hybrid? I then checked the orange messenger bag at my side and pulled out a map. I had stolen that map of Cincinnati from the lab that I had grown up in. Yes, I had grown up in a lab. You see, these crazy scientists had kidnapped my from my home in Cincinnati when I was three, and taken me there, to that lab in New York. They had done these cruel experiments on me, making me only 96% human... and 4% lion.

At first, I had struggled against their testing, only to find greater pain. So I had submitted reluctantly. But in the back of my mind, as I was almost driven insane I remembered my ultimate goal. When I was strong enough, I would break out of there. I would escape this living hell. I remember the day I had escaped from the lab, as clear as it was yesterday.

_Start Flashback_

_About half a year ago, I remember sitting there in my cage, my knees against my chest as I thought about giving up, surrendering to the pain. Dying. You see, I had been ill. I had been in fatal condition from the lack of food and clean water. I hollucinated often, and felt dizzy most of the time. But then, I watched as these bird-kids had walked into the room. There had been six of them, and when I saw them coming, by heart had thudded painfully in my chest with excitement. "They are going to free me," I had thought. "I am going to be free." Instead of rescuing me however, I had watched as they printed out these papers and left. They had left me there. They could have set me free, it wouldn't have even taken that long, but instead they selfishly only thought of themselves. After they left me, I angrily punched the cage door. To my great suprise, it fell off of the cage, leaving an opening large enough for me to fit through. _

_I had crawled through the opening, and stood up for the first time in months. By bones ached and I felt like throwing up, but I was okay. As I heard the cry in the other room, "You killed your own brother!", I realized that this was my chance to escape. While the whitecoats were busy with the bird-kids, I could get out of here. So I snuck quietly out of the building, taking down one whitecoat and slipping his coat over my shoulders. As I made it out the door, I ran as fast as I could until the lab was miles behind. I took a deep breath of the fresh air, something I hadn't done in years as I finally realized it... I was free. _

_And just a few months ago, when I had been wandering the streets of New York, stealing from rich businessmen to survive, I wondered what I was going to do. I needed a home. A family. People who could protect me, people who wouldn't leave me to fend for myself. I needed to find my parents. So, I thought about who they could have been. What was my name again? I didn't remember it at all. I just knew that the scientists had called me "Experiment 314159". Hey, that sounded a lot like Pi! 3.141592653589! So I made up a name for myself. Pia. Pronounced "Pie-uh". Then, I decided I would travel back to Cincinnati and find my parents. I nodded to myself, determined to do it. And when I was determined to do something, nothing could stop me...  
_

_End flashback._

So now that I was actually in Cincinnati, I had no idea what to do. I make no sense sometimes. I had taken down so many people on my way here, tricking bus drivers, stealing from gas stations. But now that I was here, I realized that I hadn't planned this far. In truth, I hadn't thought that I would make it to Cincinnati without the whitecoats catching me. But I did. So, with my head held high, I walked down the streets of downtown Cincinnati, ready to meet my parents.

**Author's Note: So? What did you think? Was it horrible? Suckish? Okay? Good? Awesome? Review and tell me, please! :)**


	10. Love Is Hard

**Well, I was really bored and after a stressful week, decided to put the stress on Star's shoulders! But since I love Iggy so much, he got some of it too! Sorry, Iggy. I know that I'm kind of straying from the plot, but I wanted to include this chapter. One of my friends had told me that Star "seemed a little too perfect", and I figured that I should show her emotions more. So here it is! The result of three days of writing at midnight! Enjoy chapter ten!**

**Disclaimer: Maximum Ride does not belong to me**

**Claimer: Star, Lilly and this fanfic belong fully to me. Pia belongs half to me, and half to one of my friends.**

Chapter Ten: Love Is Hard

Max's POV

In the morning, I woke up to find the sun already high in the sky. I groaned. Why hadn't anyone woken me up? As I walked into the kitchen, I found my answer. No one was awake yet. I guess we all had needed some rest. Just as I was about to go order food, Iggy shuffled into the kitchen. "Mornin' Max," he yawned. Stretching a little bit, he felt his way around until he found his sofa. Sinking into it, Iggy asked me the same question that was on my mind, "So. What's for breakfast?" Before I could answer him, Star burst into the room, looking all happy and cheerful. It kinda hurt my eyes.

"Guess what, Max?" she asked me. "What?" I managed, rubbing my eyes with the palm of my hands. Her sparkliness wasn't really practical, I'd have to say. Basically, her outfit looked exactly the same, except the star on her perfectly ironed blouse was pink today. Huh. Guess people really do change clothes every day, even when they're not dirty.

How _wasteful_.

Star tilted her head at me, then continued. "So since I knew you guys ate a lot, I ordered everything on the menu," she beamed at us. Literally. The sun hit her wings so that they sparkled, blinding me momentarily. Iggy blinked, not bothered. When I recovered, I motioned for Star to sit down on Nudge's sofa, whole I sank down in mine. I was looking for a way to start a conversation when Iggy broke the silence. "You know, it feels weird, not cooking," he thought to himself. Star looked concerned for a moment, then Iggy continued. "But it's also nice to just relax for a while, to not worry about anything at all..." His sightless eyes scanned the room, then fell on Star, who was staring off into the distance again. Jeez, that girl was really one of those mysterious types. Trying to stop the awkwardness, I teased Iggy a bit. "Is there something going on between you two that I should know about?" I joked. Iggy was silent, but I could see a hint of a blush. Star jumped and stared at me in horror. I almost gagged.

I would have demanded to know everything, but just then the food came. Waiters filed into the room, carrying huge platters of food- mainly bacon, omelettes, french toast, milk, and other breakfast foods. Once they had set the food on the huge table, they promptly marched out. Wow. As soon as the smells started to blend together, making a delicious medley of scents, the rest of the flock ran into the kitchen. Gazzy practically tripped over his own feet, trying to get at it.

After we took about an hour consuming all that delicious food, we felt stuffed. Well, except for Star. She had just eaten two doughnuts and a cup of yogurt, sipping a cup of hot chocolate. Then, she had delicately wiped her mouth with a fancy napkin, and gone to go get a book to read. Sissy.

By the time that we had finished eating, Star had already gotten back. "I couldn't find my book," she said sadly. I raised my eyebrow at her, wondering what she was going to do now. "So… I brought my iPod!" I wondered for a few seconds right there what an iPod was when Nudge jumped on top of the poor girl, squealing with delight. Apparently iPods are just these souped-up mp3 players. Why they are called iPods, I have no clue. But Nudge was begging Star to let her borrow the iPod. I glared at Star, my eyes saying _No._ Well, Star _didn't_ let Nudge borrow her iPod. She bought Nudge a new one. So now we have an eleven-year-old bird-kid prancing around the suite, listening to her new pink iPod. _Thanks_, Star.

So after a few minutes of sitting at the table, our stomachs full, I decided that we should go and get a move on. I assigned Fang, Iggy, and Angel to go help Star figure out her ability, while I let Gazzy watch TV and Nudge listen to her new iPod. I guess the kids deserved some fun. So I watched as the flock went off to go do their assigned activity.

I bet you're wondering right now, "So, what is the amazing Maximum Ride going to do?" Well, I have the all-important job of figuring out where we are going to go next, thank you very much. Okay, okay. I'll admit it. I am going to go hack into Fang's email, read his blog, and check his Google history.

Did I get ya there? I was kidding, you know. You must have thought that I was all desperate to have believed that… I am actually going to sleep. I mean it. I am so tired of all the life-threatening situations we have to go through. Why can't we just have like, a _week_ of normal time as kids? Is that too much to ask for? I figured that once I woke up, I would go watch some TV and eat more junk food. _Yep, that's a good plan_, I thought dreamily as I drifted off to sleep on my sofa…

Star's POV

So. Here I was, with Fang, Iggy, and Angel. Trying to figure out my ability that will supposedly "help Max save the world". _Yay._ In truth, I hadn't wanted this. To be inside the book with the Flock was great, but _me_ saving the _world_? I just think that it's a little too much. Anyways, we were trying each of the flock's abilities to see if I had the same one or something. We had no idea what we were doing, so what the heck? It was worth a try.

First, we tried to see if I could read minds or not. I tried to read Fang's mind, but failed miserably. The same went for trying to become invisible, flying super fast, attracting metal, and all the other abilities. When I had tried Gazzy's ability to mimic voices, trying to say "Yo" like Fang, it ended with everyone rolling on the ground laughing at my imitation. Guess I didn't have any of those abilities, then.

Disappointed, we went back inside to find Max asleep on her sofa, Gazzy still hypnotized by the TV, and Nudge happily trying on her new clothes in the giant closet while listening to the iPod I had gotten her. Sighing, I brushed past Iggy (who has been staring at me all day) and ran into Max's room, collapsing on her bed. Iggy followed me.

"Star, are you okay?" he asked me, genuine concern on his face. Suddenly, I remembered the kiss from last night. I decided I couldn't take it any more. "I'm sorry Iggy, but I just can't do this any more," I softly told him as I ran to the balcony, threw the door open, and took off, flying into the blue sky. Tears fell from my eyes as I felt overwhelmed with all of this, all of this drama that always happens to _me_.

It wasn't that I didn't _like_ Iggy, I mean he was nice and all, but I had basically given up on guys. I had done this when I had realized that my last crush had been a jerk, and I don't want to complicate things for myself. _Especially_ not when he's in a different _world_. But now I felt bad, leading Iggy on like that. Not saying I didn't enjoy the attention (it was quite flattering, actually), but it just felt kind of wrong. I sighed again. The only thing to do now was to apologize to the poor guy. But maybe I was flattering myself too much. Who's to say that he actually liked me that way? God, I am so stupid sometimes. I messed up big time. Maybe he didn't even like me like that, and I had just hurt him. Stopping mid-air, I turned around to go talk to Iggy. Hopefully, hopefully he would understand.

Iggy's POV

I watched, dumbstruck as Star flew away. What had I done wrong? I was so deep in thought that I didn't even notice Fang come up behind me, like I usually could do. I could feel Fang look at me sympathetically as we watched Star fly away. He patted me on the back. "I know how you feel, man," he told me. I jumped, wondering how he knew. I could feel Fang smirk a little. "Angel," he said, answering my unspoken question. I muttered a few curses. "Who else knows?" I asked, hoping it would be just him and Angel. He confirmed that it was just him and Angel. Angel had told him to come talk to me, apparently. I groaned. Fang patted me on the back again, then left the room.

Star's POV

When I had returned, I found Iggy still sitting on Max's bed. I rushed over to him. "I'm sorry Iggy, it's not that I don't like you, 'cause I _do_ like you, it's just that the last guy I liked was a jerk, and then I gave up on guys, plus you're not even in my world and, and…" I gushed my apology like that for a while, then burst out into tears again. Iggy nodded slowly, then asked, "So you're saying that you _do_ like me?" he teased. My eyes widened in horror. Oh no. I would regret this later, but without thinking I quickly said, "Well I didn't say that…" Iggy looked away, hurt. Then, he gets up, runs to the balcony and flies off like I did. Only he has a good reason.

"Oh, no," I gasped. "What have I done?" As I start to chase after him, Fang comes up behind me, puts his hand on my shoulder (I flinch, naturally) and tells me, "You really broke his heart…" Gosh, _Thanks_ Fang. That made me feel _lots_ better. Then, Angel comes up behind our blunt, dark-haired bird-kid and nods at me sincerely. Well, great. I have a freaking six-year-old making me feel guilty, too. Just my luck.

I take off, hoping to find Iggy sitting on the roof or something. Nope. After an hour of searching, I finally find him sitting in a pine tree, flicking at a pine cone. I sit next to him, folding up my legs against my chest. He turns away from me, as expected. "Iggy, I'm so, so sorry…" I tell him. After wiping away the tears from my tear-streaked face, I look at him sincerely, knowing that he would feel it. "Iggy, I didn't mean that," I tell him. I gently take his arm and try to turn him towards me. He rips his arm out of my grasp roughly, turning towards me for a few seconds. "Leave me alone," he tells me. I bite my lower lip until I taste the copper flavor of my own blood.

There's nothing left that I can do. I touch his face, saying "Iggy, I am really sorry." He flinches, then pushes me away again. I sigh. I lean closer to him, brushing my lips against his cheek. I stand up, unfold my wings, and as I turn to leave, I whisper the sentence that I haven't been admitting to myself since I met him. "I _do_ like you, Iggy," I tell him softly. "I really like you…" Then, I jump off of the branch, heading back to the hotel. There's only so much you can do, sometimes.

Iggy's POV

I tense as Star touches my face, then push her away. But when she kisses my cheek, I just close my eyes, trying to ignore the beating of my heart. As Star leaves, I bury my head in my hands, confused. I squeeze my eyes shut, trying to drown out the sound of my conflicting emotions. Why is love so hard?

**Author's note: Hm… now that I read it, it sounds kind of thrown together. Guess my brain was a little fuzzy when I wrote it. Oh, well. What do you think? Review, please!**


	11. Muffins, Refrigerators, and Xylophones?

**Author's Note: Oh wow. I already had this chapter typed up more than a week ago, but I forgot to update. And then FanFiction wouldn't let me post it. . So sorry about that, but enjoy chapter eleven!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Maximum Ride, but I DO own Star and Pia. (Well, half of Pia.) Yep. But I'm guessing you already knew that. So I'll stop boring you with my disclaimer…**

Chapter Eleven: Muffins, refrigerators, and xylophones?

Star's POV

It was late afternoon by the time that I landed on the balcony as softly as I could. Hm… time flies even when you're not having fun, I guess. Gently opening the door, I tiptoed out of Max's room, so as not to disturb her sleep. Once in the hallway, I pinched the bridge of my nose, wondering what I was going to do to fix this mess. I decided that I would meditate on it. (By that, I mean think about it. Not sit, floating in the air going "Um…") Suddenly feeling weighted down by the stress and guilt, I decided to find a place to sit down.

Unfortunately, Gazzy was occupying the TV area, still hypnotized by the TV; Nudge was in her room blasting loud music (Note to self: Never, ever give an eleven-year-old bird-kid an iPod when she has giant speakers in her room); Angel had ordered a truckload of beanie babies which were now stuffed into her cramped room, and there was _no way_ I would go into Fang's room. (I'm not compatible with dark. Just _no_.) Plus, he was probably in there, updating his blog right now. Oh, and not to mention the fact that _Max would kill me_. And of course, I couldn't go to Max's room as she was already asleep there. Which left either Iggy's all-white room (my favorite color) or my huge, lonely, and over-luxurious suite. I don't know about you, but I'd rather stay in a suite full of six bird-kids and two dogs rather than a suite twice as big _by yourself_. But I'd rather inhale the scent of Gazzy's super stink bomb than go to Iggy's room. So my suite it was.

I ran straight into the bedroom (don't ask me to describe it to you now. As you can see, it's not a good time), slammed the door shut, put my iPod buds into my ears, turned the volume louder, and squeezed my eyes shut, trying to drown out my problems. As I felt the tears start to run down my face again, I fell asleep.

Max's POV

"Max? Hellooo? Max?" My eyes fluttered, trying to open. "What? Who? Where?" I asked sleepily. The voice (Not _the Voice_, just a normal voice) chuckled. "Fang? Is that you?" I demanded. I rubbed my eyes with the back of my hand, then forced them open. Yep, it was Fang. He held out his hand for me to take, and I grabbed it. Hauling myself up, I realized that I was not on my sofa anymore. I was in my room. Huh?

Fang probably noticed that I was confused, so he explained. "You fell asleep on the sofa, and I had to move you here because you were muttering, and Gazzy couldn't hear the TV over you." Ah. I nodded. Wait. I was _muttering_? "You mean like, talking in my sleep?" I asked Fang weakly. He nodded. My mind flickered back to my dream.

_I had been kissing Fang, like that night in the cave, before the "Valium Incident", as I liked to call it. Suddenly, Fang morphed, becoming an Eraser. Growling, he had lunged at me. I kicked the Fang-eraser desperately, but he caught my foot and twisted my leg. And instead of waking up when I felt the pain, I continued to dream. Also, you know how in dreams you move really slowly and don't think your decisions through? Well, this dream is an example of that. I turned around and ran as fast as I could, hurting my twisted leg. I tripped and fell in a heap. At the feet of a Star-eraser. I looked up, seeing that the whole flock, even Total and Akila had been eraser-fied. Expecting the worst, I looked down at myself. Apparently, I didn't expect the worst after all. I had expected to be an Eraser myself, but instead of the familiar claws and wolf-like fur, I saw my internal organs. I was a brain on a stick. I screamed more, even though logic should have told me that if I really was a brain on a stick, I couldn't have gotten my leg twisted. But it was a dream, so in panic, I… drifted off into another dream? The rest of my dreams had been about eating chocolate chip cookies at Dr. Martinez's house, going on night flights, and various other enjoyable activities. Oh, and kissing Fang more. I'm not going to go into detail for you, though. _

"Uh… so what was I saying?" "Well," Fang started, grinning. "You said something that sounded like 'No! Don't eat my muffin!" and you were going on about refrigerators and xylophones." I glared at him. "What?" he asked. "No, what did you really hear?" "What I just told you," he said, confused. I stared at him for a while, not understanding it. Then, I decided to blame the Voice.

So after that, I went to check on the rest of the flock. Apparently, Star did not possess any of the same abilities as the rest of the flock, and they couldn't figure out what it was. Right now, according to Fang, she was in her suite and Iggy had gone out for a flight. I felt like he was leaving something out, though. Not sure what it was, I shrugged and went to go see what Gazzy was doing.

Our little Gasman had invented a new kind of bomb, a "super stink bomb" as he called it. He swore that it was ten times more foul-smelling than anything we've ever smelled. I didn't want to wait around for him to prove it, so I hurried on along to Nudge's room. I found her with head dangling off the bed, reading fashion magazines. Nudge had ordered a copy of every fashion magazine in the US, and they were scattered on the ground. I moved on to Angel's room.

Angel was playing with her hundreds of beanie babies, which she claimed had been given to her by Star. Ugh. I would have a talk with that sparkly fourteen-year-old later…

Pia's POV

As I was wandering around aimlessly, trying to pick my next victim- err, I mean rich person to forcefully steal money from. Oh wait, that doesn't sound much better, does it? I know what you're thinking- how stealing is wrong, blah, blah, blah. But I kinda want to like, _survive_, ya know? Plus, it's not like I had good role models for morality. (Let's see _you_ get turned into a lion-kid hybrid freak and still worry about how the poor widdle rich guy feels about losing twenty bucks. Yeah, that's right. "Oh.")

Instead, my eyes alighted on something else. There, on the second floor balcony of some fancy schmancy hotel, was a girl. You might be thinking it was just a girl, like "Cool. A girl. Can we move on now?" but it wasn't just some boring, normal human girl. (No offense, normal human girls) The girl had silver hair. And from my ahem, superior eyesight, I could tell that she was upset about something by the way that she was leaning on the railing, her eyes looking down and her attempt at making her expression unreadable. (I am very observant, as you can see.) The girl probably liked the color white a lot, because she was _all white._ She looked like she had been bleached or something. I mean, before I saw her, the most boring person I had seen was this cranky teacher lady who always wore her gray pantsuit, with a bun and reading glasses. But this girl took the cake. Well anyways, I watched as another girl- a much younger one came over to comfort her. How sweet. (I'm going to bet that the younger one was around seven, and the older one my age.)

I was about to leave when I glimpsed part of a wing sticking out of the younger one's back as she left. My eyes widened. She was one of the bird-kids! I wasn't so sure about the older one, but I remembered that I had definitely seen the little girl back in New York. I winced at the memory, recalling how she had seen this _dog_, and begged the oldest girl if she could keep it. They had taken the talking dog, and not me. Anger and hatred surged through my mutant veins. Without thinking, I had transformed and before I knew it, was somehow already on the balcony. _Stop,_ I told myself, but my body wouldn't listen to me anymore. I leapt at the silver-haired girl, unable to stop myself. About to kill.


	12. Nudge's Doom

**Author's Note: So I typed this up three weeks ago and just didn't get to post it. I wrote most of this in school while my history teacher was rambling on about something, lol. ^^ I'm sorry I didn't post it earlier if you are still following this story, but I had to do this stupid project for history. Urgh. It took me FOREVER to do that stinking thing.**

**Disclaimer: I still do not own Maximum Ride, and I still own Star, Lilly, this, and half of Pia. **

**Oh, and just to make it clear- I am NOT Star. In case you were wondering, she may be a little bit based off of me, but she is not me. Anyways, enjoy chapter twelve!**

Chapter Twelve: Nudge's Doom

Star's POV

I opened my eyes and blinked, the setting sun directly in my eyes. I checked the silver star-shaped clock on the wall. It was 7:30 P.M. Crap. I had slept for three whole hours. Oh, well. I got up, straightened out my clothes, and plugged my iPod into the charging station built into the wall. (I was also charging my cell phone, laptop, and flashlight at the time. Guess what color they were?) Almost running, I raced down to The Flock's suite, on the second floor. Mine was on the third. (Three is my favorite number)

_I wonder if Iggy's back yet,_ I thought to myself. I hope he is… Without thinking, I flung open the door and walked in. Which of course, due to my luck meant running straight into Fang. "Oof!" I muttered as I hit my head on his rock-hard chest. Rubbing my forehead, I looked apologetically at him as Max came storming over. Fang did a little half-smirk at me, knowing that I was going to get it. I also knew that I was going to get it. I just didn't know what I did wrong.

Max glared at me. How nice. It was like, "Hello, Star- my lovely friend who just woke up and has done nothing to offend me. Now, wither under my death glare!" I sighed. What did I do _now_? Both fortunately and unfortunately for me, Max answered my unspoken question.

"_Why_ did you buy Angel a truckload of beanie babies?" she demanded. Wait, what? I just stared at her in confusion.

"I didn't," I tried to tell her, but take it from me- if you try to prove your innocence at all when you're dealing with Max, she will totally ignore you. Max continued her little tirade.

"Do you realize that Angel is going to want to bring all of them? Like, everywhere we go?" Uh, _yeah_. I know that, which is why I _**didn't buy Angel any beanie babies**_. Duh. I rolled my eyes at Fang who had retreated into a corner of the room, still smirking at me. I shot him a look that said, "Does this happen a lot?" He silently nodded a yes. I sighed again. I'll spare you the details, but when Max finally stopped, I had to explain to her for the seventeenth time how I did not buy Angel beanie babies.

"Oh," she said. Then, she smiled a triumphant smile. I cocked me head in confusion. What was she talking about? Again, I got my answer a lot sooner than I expected.

"Iggy!" Max called. Because when in doubt, blame Iggy. I mean, who _doesn't_ like blaming the blind guy? Now, normally Iggy would have been a great sport about it. However, now is not a good time for Max to harass Iggy about beanie babies? Wanna know why? It's because Star is a horrible person who ruins everyone's lives. That's why. But I digress. Basically what I'm trying to say here is that blaming Iggy is not a good idea right now.

Which, of course, meant that I had to stop her. I glared at Fang now, waiting for him to come and help me. He sighed and I took off as fast as I could, running after Max (who was on her way to Iggy's room) as fast as I could. Which I would say was pretty fast. Mr. Emotionless strolled along casually behind me, taking his time. He probably knew that it would annoy me. And as much as I hate to admit it, he was right. Stupid dark-haired bird-kid.

Still, I had other things to worry about, so decided to concentrate on running. It was right now that I was regretting my choice to have the hotel people give The Flock such a large suite. It was taking me forever (or so it seemed) to get to Iggy's room. But I've never had good time judgment, so it could have been only a minute or so.

Fang and I finally caught up to Max right before she was going to open the door to Iggy's room. I didn't even hesitate as I tackled her to the ground. Now, normally Max wouldn't even have budged, but she was completely taken by surprise- plus, I had spread out my wings right before the tackle, adding momentum to it. As Max recovered quickly, standing up before I would have even thought about standing up, Fang grabbed her arms, pinning them behind her back with one hand and putting his other hand over her mouth. Max looked vehemently at us, like she was going to so kill us later. I didn't doubt her for a second.

Together, we managed to drag Max away from Iggy's room and into her room. Don't ask me how we did it- it was like a miracle. Somehow, Max had stopped struggling for a few seconds which was good enough for Fang. In those few seconds, he had gotten an iron grip on her and shoved her into the room, locking the door behind us. Max fell on top of her bed, got up quickly, then stood up and kneed Fang in the… um, well basically, where the sun doesn't shine. Yeah. So Fang, being Fang did not double over in pain like most guys would do. He just winced, and said "ouch". Max glared menacing at me, daring me to try something. I hated how she was taller than me. I hated how everyone here over the age of twelve was taller than me. I grimaced at her.

Fang, already over his injuries was now looking at the palm of his hand, where you could very clearly see Max's teeth marks. "Sheesh," he muttered, marveling at how deep the bites were. Blood was starting to come out of his hand, and that was when I freaked out.

So, you probably don't know this about me, but I hate the sight of blood. I can't stand it. I bit my lower lip to keep from screaming, and covered my ears with my hands, squeezing my eyes shut. Well, that was what should have happened. Instead, Max demanded to know what was going on while I just weakly stared at Fang's blood. I closed my eyes, and told her about what had happened.

"So Max, you know how um… well, you see…" I tried to explain, but Fang saved me, telling her for me.

"Star wouldn't admit that she has a crush on Iggy, so he's sitting in a tree, confused."

I stared at Fang in mortification. He had basically summed everything up in one sentence. Wait. I didn't admit that. No. "No!" I screamed, covering up my blushing face with my hands. Crap. Blushing?? Wait a minute. How did Fang know…?

"Angel," he simply stated, going back to one-word answers again. Well, that made it even worse. A freaking _six-year-old_ knew about the horrible things I had done to poor Iggy. I wanted to go bang my head on the wall right there and then, but had to refrain as Max looked at me suspiciously. And then, I had to tell her the whole story. Leaving not even one embarrassing detail out. The worst five minutes of my life. Well, in this world at least.

After that, I somehow managed to convince Fang (psh, more like _begged_) to go wash the cuts on his hand. I don't know why he had reluctantly said "whatever", but I had gratefully bandaged his hand up for him. Stupid blood. When we had come back from the bathroom (which smelled like rubbing alcohol now), Max was still trying to comprehend it.

"So let me get this straight…" she began. Max was probably going to summarize what I had told her, if not for Nudge and Angel. At that moment, Nudge had happily bounced in, dragging a sheepish Angel behind her. "Sorry," Angel mouthed at me, as Nudge started babbling about her favorite subject- drama.

"Like, OMG!" she started. "So you're saying that Iggy liked Star, and he thought that Star liked him back, and she did except for she wouldn't admit it to anyone, especially not to herself, and then she accidentally told him that she didn't like him, so he was sad and then Star felt bad and she went to find him and told him that she did like him, but he wouldn't listen to her, and now he's still out there somewhere, thinking that Star doesn't like him?" Nudge took a deep breath as she finished her very long question.

Nudge had just summarized it in one long question. And the worst part was, I was forced to nod. Which got her started again.

"Oh, that's too bad, 'cause you know it would be great if you guys went out together, and ooh- you and Iggy could double date with Max and Fang, 'cause Angel says that they really really like each other, and it would be so cute if that happened, but it won't because you guys have problems admitting your feelings for each other, even though it would make everything easier." After Nudge finished, everyone in the room had their mouths wide open. Max was blushing like crazy, Fang looked like he wanted to hurt Nudge, and Angel was looking at Nudge in horror. I have no idea what I was doing right there and then, I was so dazed at Nudge's long speech.

Then, Nudge realized what she had just done. "Oh. Oops," she said, trying to smile placatingly at us, backing away from the three furious bird-kids.

"Nudge…" they all said, advancing towards her.

"Oh, look at the time- gotta go!" Nudge took off faster than I've seen anyone run in my life, as Angel, Max, and Fang raced after her, all threatening her with various things.

I sighed as I watched them go. Feeling left out, I decided to go to the balcony and get some fresh air. I inhaled deeply once I stepped outside. Leaning on the railing, I sigh again. Looking down at the people below, I wonder how _their_ life is. Better than mine, probably…


	13. Fang's Dream

**Author's Note: Look! It's Fang's POV again! I love his POV, 'cause he describes things very well. I mean, just because he doesn't like talking a lot doesn't mean he can't think interesting thoughts, right? But thank you for bearing with me here- it's really hard to find time to write with school and all that. I've only been getting about five hours of sleep each night. But I'm guessing you want me to shut up and get to the story. So enjoy chapter thirteen! ^^**

**Disclaimer: Keliantria does not own Maximum Ride, but she does own Star, Lilly, this fanfic, and half of Pia.**

Chapter Thirteen: Fang's Dream

Fang's POV

So, let's recap here. In this long day I…:

1. Woke up and ate a huge breakfast

2. Went off with Star, Iggy, and Angel to figure out Star's ability

3. Got sent by Angel to go eavesdrop on Star and Iggy (she said, "Fang, you _need_ to hear what they're saying right now." As _if_.)

4. Had to comfort Iggy

5. Had to encourage Star to go after Iggy (I think I messed that one up a bit. Probably made her feel worse.)

6. Went to go watch TV to find Max asleep

7. Carried Max to her room

8. Went and checked my blog

9. Got bored and went to wake Max up

10. Got sidetracked by Max muttering "Fang" every now and then in her sleep. And stuff about random household objects. Does that mean I'm comparable to toasters and blenders?

11. Woke Max up and told her about her mutterings. Except for the parts where she said my name.

So, all caught up now? Good.

Max managed to get Gazzy away from the TV, and had him go blow something up from his bomb-building kit. (Remember? From when we first got here, and it was on his bed?) Nudge had fallen asleep, her arms and legs splayed out at weird angles after reading fashion magazines for hours. (Max's expression was hilarious when she first saw Nudge- it probably looked like Nudge was dead or something.) Angel is still playing with her newly acquired beanie babies, and we were unable to locate Total and Akila. And of course, Iggy was nowhere to be found. Duh.

So, as we left the rest of the flock in peace, Max turned to me.

"Fang." I blinked, my sign for "what?". Well, that and basically most of the words I use on a daily basis. But Max can tell the difference most of the time.

"I want you to go find Star. Convince her to come back so I can talk to her." Max took her fist and caught it with her other hand. Ooh. I would not want to be in Star's position right now. And I'm saying that as an experienced receiver of Max's punches. They hurt.

Anyways, I walked to the door, getting ready to open it. Instead, the door flew open, and I silver blur crashed into me. Star. I expected to have the wind knocked out of me as she hit her head on my chest, but then I remembered. She weighed even less than me. I barely felt it, to tell you the truth. After rubbing her head, Star looked at me. She had that same expression on her face as I did when I was trying to say sorry to Max. Hmm…

So Max came marching over, and before Star could react, started yelling at the poor girl.

[paragraph omitted by your wonderful narrator Fang because Max's talking gets quite boring after a while]

So. Where were we? Oh yeah. Star explained to Max how she didn't buy Angel beanie babies, and all that stuff.

(Actually, Angel bought them by herself after mind-reading some lady's credit card number. Not good, I know. But Angel made me swear not to tell. Or else, she's going to tell Max and the rest of the flock about every embarrassing thought I've had in like, my _whole life_. And then, she'd lock me in a room with no ventilation with Gazzy, and Nudge talking to me on a walkie-talkie with the ear buds glued in my ears. It sounds crazy, but I knew that Angel would find a way. That little girl is _evil_.)

Oh crap. I just put a while paragraph into parentheses, didn't I? Meh. I do that a lot. Get used to it.

So by now, Max had finished, and wanted to blame Iggy. Not good.

Star glared at me, the universal bird-kid signal for "If you don't try to help me, I'm going to rip out your spine and beat you with it." I think.

So pretending to be casual, I slowly walk after Star, knowing that it would annoy the crap out of her. I was right.

We managed to catch up to Max right before she knocked on Iggy's door. (Maybe I should have gone a _little_ bit faster. Just a little.) Star tackled Max to the ground (I have it a 7.5 for improvisation), and together we managed to haul Max to her room.

I finally got to drop Max on the bed after a while. What I said in the first book about Max weighing a freaking ton is still true. Only I think she weighs even more now. Seriously, I have got to cut back on the number of cookies I allow that girl to eat. Anyways, just then I noticed that Max had bitten the hand I'd put over her mouth. And it had bite marks on it. (Kinda ironic, 'cause you know- my names Fang…) Well, it was bleeding.

I didn't really care that much, 'cause we heal really fast (remember?), but Star freaked. I mean that girl totally flipped out.

She was trying to explain herself when she saw my arm, ogling the blood. And well, let's just say that we know Star's weakness now.

I had to help Star out a little, but we managed to get the explanation out to an angry Max. I thought that we were totally cooked for a few moments, but Max suddenly had an "understanding-and-calm-leader moment". And trust me, those don't happen very often.

So, she allowed Star to bandage my hand up. At first I had refused because I don't need a freaking band-aid for a little bite. Really. I'm- we're a lot tougher than that. But it is very hard to say no to Star. She was a lot like Max in that department.

Great, huh? I get stuck with all the stubborn, bossy girls.

After I had gotten my little tiny flesh wound bandaged up, Star collapsed on the bed. I thought that she was going to faint or something, but she made it through. Note to self: Never bleed in front of Star. So Max was looking both understandingly and disapprovingly at Star. If that was even possible.

But I'll bet that Star was feeling pretty uncomfortable right now. I mean, how weird is it to have like, the older sister of the guy whose heart you broke hear all about it? I'd say pretty weird.

But then, Nudge burst in, dragging an agitated Angel behind her. I groaned inwardly. The Nudge Channel was _not_ one of my favorite channels, least to say.

Anyways, Nudge happily killed the awkward silence as she kept talking… and talking… and talking… and I think you get the idea. And uh… Nudge basically summed up what had happened in one long, nonstop question.

Star grimaced as she listened to Nudge's speech, but was forced to nod, verifying Nudge's statement. The poor girl. But she shouldn't have nodded. She _really_ should not have done that. Wanna know why? Because Nudge went off again.

"Oh, that's too bad, 'cause you know it would be great if you guys went out together, and ooh- you and Iggy could double date with Max and Fang, 'cause Angel says that they really really like each other, and it would be so cute if that happened, but it won't because you guys have problems admitting your feelings for each other, even though it would make everything easier."

My jaw dropped open, and as I looked at Max, our eyes met, widening in horror. Funny. To think that the special "moment" all of those useless teen magazines talk about when you "look into their eyes and feel a connection" had been right. Only our case was because an eleven-year-old blabbermouth bird-kid had just revealed everything. Oh. Crap. You must think that I secretly read those, don't you? Well I don't. I promise. Nudge just keeps on talking about them. And my memory is too good for me to try and forget.

Anyways, Max caught my eyes and nodded. I smirked my signature smirk. And together, spreading our wings out in unison, we sped after Nudge, who had taken off as soon as she'd realized what she had just done. Or, the fact that we wanted to hurt her. Both of those work.

Glancing back, I noticed that Star hadn't followed us. She had gone out to the balcony again, and the wind was playing with her hair, making her look like some fallen angel. Iggy didn't have bad taste. Now before you go tattle-tale to Max on me, it's not like I actually like her like that. And I'll bet a lot of you are still wondering why I kept on staring at her when we first met? Well, I'll tell you. I didn't even tell Max this yet, but the night before we met Star/Lilly, I had a dream.

And not just any dream- not even one about getting attacked by Erasers. I had seen Lilly, smiling, giggling in her own world. She was playfully teasing this one guy, and holding our third book- Saving the World and Other Extreme Sports. And suddenly, her friend (brunette, glasses, freckles, typical studious schoolgirl) comes over. Holding something glowing in her hands…

**Author's Note: Kay. So this might seem like a filler chapter or something, but I promise you, it isn't. You really need to know how Fang feels about all this for the next few chapters. Just wanted to clear that up. ^^ Review, please? **


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